10 Best Psycho Killer Movies

The 10 best psycho killer movies can serve many diverse purposes. Feel like going on a psychotic murder-spree? Look to these movies for inspiration! Tired of watching movies that don't have psycho killers in them? Hey, here are 10 of the best psycho killer movies! Want to creep out that girl you like? Look no further!

"The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" Not just one of the best psycho killer movies, but the ORIGINAL psycho killer movie! Even the set design of this movie screams "psycho." And not in the way that your ex-girlfriend screams "psycho," but in the sense that the sets look all weird and stuff.

"The Leopard Man" Val Lewton made many fantastic horror movies, but this is probably the only, and best psycho killer movie he ever made. A series of grisly murders have taken place, with the victims being torn apart as if by a killer cat. At first, a recently escaped leopard is thought to be to blame, but blah blah blah it's a psycho killer instead!

"Shadow of a Doubt" You can't make a list of the best psycho killer movies without Alfred Hitchcock, and this movie is when he first hit his stride in the genre. The psycho in question is none other than Uncle Charlie, who has a slightly creepy relationship with his niece also named Charlie. The plot thickens when Charlie begins to suspect that Uncle Charlie is a serial killer. Oh, Charlie, the men we look up to will invariably disappoint us in the end, won't they?

"Strangers on a Train" Another one of Hitchcock's best psycho killer movies, this one dealing with Bruno Anthony, a lunatic with mother issues who wants to "swap murders" with a famous tennis star. The moral of this story: Never trust a man with two first names.

"Psycho" Man, this Alfred Hitchcock guy was a bit of a…psycho, wasn't he? You knew this had to be on the list of best psycho killer movies – the word "psycho" is right there in the title. Hitch may have done himself a disservice though when he made such a phenomenal blockbuster – what used to be his domain became everybody's favorite genre after "Psycho" exploded.

"Peeping Tom" Behind every psycho killer there's a failed parent, and the titular character of "Peeping Tom" is no exception. This guy had a father who subjected him to all kinds of experiments in terror, and never without a camera there to film his every microscopic reaction. So now he likes to kill pretty girls while he films them with a camera. The worst part? Well, you'll have to watch the movie to find out.

"Sisters" Brian De Palma is a master of the psycho killer movie, much like his cinematic idol Alfred Hitchcock. And in "Sisters" he puts the "psycho" in "psycho killer movie." And we think that Margot Kidder's French-Canadian accent is one of the sexiest things we've ever heard. Then again, we're a sucker for girls speaking French.

"Frenzy" The final Hitchcock on this list of the best psycho killer movies is truly a marvel. Unlike the movies he made before, it has explicit nudity and violence (and NOT the fun kinds), in addition to typical Hitch tropes like the "wrong man" and the charismatic villain. To see a movie this brutal and this nasty and remember that it was made by a man who was working during the silent era is a real head-slapper.

"Halloween" Like many of the filmmakers behind the best psycho killer movies, John Carpenter was heavily influenced by Hitchcock when he made "Halloween." In fact, the character of Sam Loomis is named after a character in "Psycho." But the influence goes much deeper than that – the way that Carpenter squeezes suspense out of his limited resources is the true mark of a Hitchcock disciple. Plus, this has the good kind of nudity.

"Se7en" It's rare that a psycho killer has lofty goals in mind as he murders at will. But John Doe just wants to teach people about the world! We could use more psycho killers like him, don't you think?